| Back to index of Festival Previews |
| Interview with festival director Dragan Svaco | Questions: Borivoj Dovnikovic |
|
ZAGREB 2000 14th World Festival of Animated Film |
| The 14th World Festival of Animated Films ZAGREB 2000 will take place from June 21-25, 2000. After eight years the organisation of the Festival has been returned to Zagreb Film, the company that founded it in back in 1972. We have been talking about the situation with Dragan Svaco, Director of Zagreb Film and of the Festival |
|
|
Borivoj Dovnikovic:
"Can you tell us something about the new circumstances with regard the Zagreb Festival of Animation?" |
|
Dragan Svaco:
" Last year the Festival Council invited offers for the organisation of the manifestation. As a result, the organisation was entrusted to Zagreb Film, the founder and the first organiser of the festival. Margit Buba Antauer, who until then had filled the post of the organisation director, remained with her own company, Zagreb Concert Management, and Josko Marusic, who was Art Director, had left the Festival even earlier to devote himself to the organisation of Study of Animation at the Zagreb Academy of Visual Arts. Borivoj Dovnikovic Bordo was engaged as Festival advisor to manage the preparatory activities related to the programme. Bordo has substantial experience in the running of the festival in earlier periods and is currently Secretary General of ASIFA. Vesna Dovnikovic was appointed Festival Secretary mainly due to her own experience gained in organisation during the period 1980-1992." |
|
|
|
Borivoj Dovnikovic:
"How are the preparatory activities for ZAGREB 2000 progressing?" |
|
Dragan Svaco:
"In the middle of last year the zero-issue of FESTIVAL NEWS, containing a report on ZAGREB 1998 as well as some new information related to ZAGREB 2000, was dispatched throughout the world. Towards the end of the year material related to entering the ZAGREB 2000 competition was sent to ALL addressees on our mailing list. As we speak, videocassettes for perusal by the Selection Commission are arriving in force. " |
|
|
|
Borivoj Dovnikovic:
"Have you decided on the composition of the International Selection Commission?" |
|
Dragan Svaco:
"Not only have we decided on the Selection Commission (which begins its work on March 15), but also on the Jury. Selection of films to enter the competition will be done by the following persons: Clare Kitson, Researcher in Animation Studies at the Surrey Institute of Art and Design and freelance animation consultant (U.K.), Steve Montal, Director of Educational and Special Programs Development at the American Film Institute (USA), and Hrvoje Turkovic film theoretician and publicist (Croatia). The award winners of ZAGREB 2000 will be decided by: Fusako Yusaki, film director (Italy), Garry Bardine, film director (Russia), Tsvika Oren, film critic and director (Israel), Bill Plympton, film director (USA), and Vatroslav Mimica, film director (Croatia)." |
|
|
|
Borivoj Dovnikovic:
"Although there is yet some time to go before ZAGREB 2000, have you defined the main festival programs?" |
|
Dragan Svaco:
"As usual, there will be four programs in the official competition, and three panorama programs. We are working on a retrospective of Indian and Spanish animated film. Of particular interest, we believe, will be a program and exhibition of works by Jan Svankmajer, the great Czech animator who is this year's Laureate of the Zagreb Life Achievement Award. Our "In Memoriam" programs are dedicated to Dusan Vukotic and Nikola Kostelac, veterans of Croatian and (what was then) Yugoslav animation, and to the Polish master Miroslaw Kijowicz, who left us in the period between two Zagreb Festivals. This year we will also celebrate the 50 anniversary of the first modern animated film in Croatia and (what was then) Yugoslavia, "Veliki Miting"; ("The Big Meeting"). This marked the beginning of professional production of animated film in Zagreb, which eventually resulted in Duga Film, Zagreb Film, the Zagreb School of Animated Film and, ultimately, in the World Festival of Animated Films. We are going to screen "The Big Meeting"and present its (surviving) creators to participants of the Festival." |
|
|
|
Borivoj Dovnikovic:
"Will not the close proximity of timings of the Zagreb Festival and the Festival in Annecy have a detrimental effect on the Zagreb Festival?" |
|
Dragan Svaco:
"Yes, indeed. The same problem arose in 1998 when the organisers of ANNECY, with which we have been alternating in the cycle of odd and even years for almost thirty years, decided to hold the festival every year, the result of which was that in even years their timings clashed with ours. The problem was exacerbated because the organisers of ANNECY went ahead without consulting either ASIFA or us. The times when we had a cycle of two biennial festivals of animation in spring time and two in the fall (Annecy and Zagreb, Hiroshima and Ottawa) are past. Today, we also have Stuttgart, Espinho, KROK, Seoul & others; and we all have to agree on a time schedule. We continue to place emphasis on the artistic, and not on the commercial aspect of animation, on innovation rather than on tradition, on the personality of the author, the animator. Along those same lines our efforts at the Festival will focus on providing a professional, but above all pleasant, atmosphere; one where film-makers will be made to feel like people who are the raison d' &etilde;tre of the festival. After all, the Zagreb Festival was founded and has been managed to this day by animators, artists; members of the Zagreb School of Animated Film." |
|
|
|
Borivoj Dovnikovic:
"What role do you foresee for ASIFA in the field of international festivals of animation?" |
|
Dragan Svaco:
"As we know, ASIFA is an association established by animators with a view to facilitating mutual links and to promoting the art of animation, and consequently to the production of animated film as such. The first move made by ASIFA was to initiate a specialized international festival of animation (Annecy 1960). Bearing in mind that the number of festivals in the world is growing, it is logical that ASIFA should remain a bonding tissue, so to speak, between them, as well as a place of mutual cooperation, and cooperation with film-makers represented by ASIFA. In other words, ASIFA should, in a manner of speaking, oversee the fundamental conditions which international festivals of animation of the highest category, and particularly those that wish to form part of this circle, must adhere to. From the very outset, as long ago as 1972, the Zagreb Festival has maintained harmonious relations with ASIFA, notwithstanding those times when the Association raised negative criticisms against individual segments of the festival organisation." |
|
|
|
Borivoj Dovnikovic:
"As Director of Zagreb Film, at one time one of the most highly regarded animated film studios in the world, can you tell us something about the current situation in your company?" |
|
Dragan Svaco:
"Unfortunately, as with studios in other countries going through a period of transition, in the period between 1991 and 1996 Zagreb Film found itself in serious straits, a period which is not over yet. The lack of financial support for the production of cartoons on the part of the Ministry of Culture, obsolescent production equipment, the question of ownership - all these factors have combined to almost destroy our once famous studio. The most devastating problem, however, was the departure of many authors and associates who departed Zagreb Film because there was no work for them to do. Since 1996, Zagreb Film has been owned (on a temporary basis) by the City of Zagreb, and some problem areas are being dealt with. New promotion equipment has been acquired, some orders from abroad have been secured, new authors are being schooled, but the task facing the staff of Zagreb Film is nevertheless a prodigious one. We see new opportunities resulting from the democratic changes brought about by the recent elections in Croatia and a new attitude towards animated film, which the previous Administration chose to totally neglect. Additionally, we also anticipate a more rapid integration into European programs for stimulation of audio-visual productions, such as CARTOON." |
|
|
|
Borivoj Dovnikovic:
"For now then, goodbye, until we see you in June at ZAGREB 2000!" |
|
Zagreb, February 2000 |
| Back to index of Festival Previews |
|